Washington — President Trump has pardoned a billionaire cryptocurrency exchange founder who pleaded guilty to a money laundering-related charge, claiming the man was a victim of political prosecution by the Biden administration.
Changpeng Zhao, a Chinese-born Canadian founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to charges of enabling money laundering while serving as CEO of the exchange. The plea was part of a multi-billion-dollar settlement Binance reached with the Biden-era Justice Department in 2023, and Zhao stepped down from his role as CEO.
He served four months in prison after his April 2024 sentencing, and his company was barred from operating in the U.S.
“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims.”
“The Biden administration sought to imprison Mr. Zhao for three years, a sentence so outside sentencing guidelines that even the judge said he had never heard of this in his 30-year career. These actions by the Biden Administration severely damaged the United States’ reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation. The Biden administration’s war on crypto is over.”
Zhao has a net worth of roughly $86 billion, according to Forbes. Zhao, who founded Binance in 2017, still owns the vast majority of the exchange, according to Forbes.
Zhao and Binance also have ties to the Trump family’s investments in the cryptocurrency industry.
Mr. Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., founded World Liberty Financial last year. An investment fund in the United Arab Emirates picked World Financial Liberty’s stablecoin, USD, to back its purchase of a stake in Binance, according to The Associated Press.
When asked about the move at the time, Mr. Trump said, “I don’t know anything about it,” the AP reported.
Asked on Thursday why he chose to pardon Zhao and if the decision had anything to do with Zhao’s connection to his family’s crypto business, Mr. Trump said, “A lot of people said that he wasn’t guilty of anything.”
“I don’t know him. I don’t believe I’ve ever met him,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “He had a lot of support, and what they said that he did is not even a crime. It wasn’t a crime. That he was persecuted by the Biden administration. And so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.”